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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 14,439
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
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Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 14,439 |
Wait staff in America are not paid the way you think. The minimum wage had been $7.25, recently increased to $8.25. When tips are added, the total hourly wage MUST meet or exceed the minimum ... or the employer must pony up the difference. A waiter gets no tips for time worked before opening or after closing. But even so, if a waiter can't get enough tips to bring the average up to $8.25 he ought not be a waiter. Indeed, if he can't get $20 he should find other work. I was thinking though, just a bit of food for thought, we make more money here in Australia than in America. Example a "check out chick" here in Australia can easily make $20 an hour, where as in America they make something like $8 an hour in the same job.
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 6,730
6000 Post Club Member
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6000 Post Club Member
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 6,730 |
The minimum wage had been $7.25, recently increased to $8.25.
Minimum wage in the US. is still $7.25, but some states are higher. So the increase to $8.25 you saw would have been in your particular state. if a waiter can't get enough tips to bring the average up to $8.25 he ought not be a waiter. Indeed, if he can't get $20 he should find other work. Regardless, there are still plenty of jobs in the U.S. that pay minimum wage, and other amounts far below $20/hr. Though as I mentioned, the discrepancy with Australia is reduced when you look at actual purchasing power (though even then, Australia's minimum wage is more generous than that in the U.S).
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Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 5,998
5000 Post Club Member
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5000 Post Club Member
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 5,998 |
The question is whether DP's are expensive in Australia when compared with other goods and when compared with incomes.
There's no doubt that DPs (and APs) are very expensive compared to other goods. The price of ordinary things like household appliances is not that much more than the US. Cars are expensive here, but not shockingly so. Pianos are ridiculously overpriced. Some of you guys who swap your gear over on a regular basis would certainly not be doing it so easily over here. Because they are so expensive, not many are sold and so you don't see them coming up on the second-hand market too much either - and when you do, they still aren't cheap. I would have upgraded to a nice mid-high end DP by now if the prices weren't so scandalous. I have to save my pennies for other things.
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 6,272
6000 Post Club Member
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6000 Post Club Member
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 6,272 |
A waiter gets no tips for time worked before opening or after closing. But even so, if a waiter can't get enough tips to bring the average up to $8.25 he ought not be a waiter. Indeed, if he can't get $20 he should find other work. Indeed, minimum wage jobs are typically high turnover high flexibility secondary jobs. Out here, if someone says they're an actor, the next question you ask them is "Oh, which restaurant?" ;-)
-- J.S. ![[Linked Image]](https://www.pianoworld.com/forum/gallery/42/thumbs/7588.jpg) ![[Linked Image]](https://www.pianoworld.com/forum/gallery/42/thumbs/7589.jpg) Knabe Grand # 10927 Yamaha CP33 Kawai FS690
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Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 130
Full Member
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Full Member
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 130 |
http://www.alternet.org/economy/whe...estaurants-pay-their-workers-living-wage Fervent lobbying by the corporate restaurant lobby, the National Restaurant Association, has kept the federal tipped minimum wage stuck at $2.13 an hour since 1991. As a result, servers—a majority of whom are women—use food stamps at double the rate of the rest of the workforce and are three-times as likely to live in poverty. They typically get $0 paychecks because their base wage is swiftly eaten up by taxes. Although labor laws require owners to ante up and pay their staff the federal or slightly higher (where applicable) minimum wage when tips don’t fill the gap, enforcement is alarming sparse. According to research from the Economic Policy Institute, employers have a .001 percent chance of being investigated in a given year, making wage theft pretty common, and easy to get away with. If you’re familiar with living paycheck-to-paycheck, servers are quite literally living shift-to-shift
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Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 960
500 Post Club Member
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500 Post Club Member
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 960 |
Australian prices are shocking. We are paying close to double on the majority of DPs compared to US prices. It's the sole reason I haven't upgraded my DP in a long time.
Probably down to the reduced market. Manufacturers can book more units per shipment to America and Europe and probably less to Australia, therefore shipping cost per unit would probably actually be higher.
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Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 5,998
5000 Post Club Member
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5000 Post Club Member
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 5,998 |
Australian prices are shocking. We are paying close to double on the majority of DPs compared to US prices. It's the sole reason I haven't upgraded my DP in a long time.
Probably down to the reduced market. Manufacturers can book more units per shipment to America and Europe and probably less to Australia, therefore shipping cost per unit would probably actually be higher. Yes, I did mention that in my first post on the subject. I understand the reality of it. Doesn't make it any easier to swallow though! When guys from the US go on about the prices of nice gear - even saying "this is too much" sometimes - us Aussies weep! We seriously pay close to double for a lot of stuff. It's depressing.
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